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As part of my Be-Wildered Series, I wanted to share this "Lament" that was written by a dear friend of mine. To be honest, I was a bit afraid to read it initially, because I was not sure I could handle the waves of emotion.

You see, my friend Gina has suffered.

My smart, strong, confident, accomplished, independent friend has been brought low these two years by intolerable, persistent chronic pain. She has tried e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g to attempt to find a measure of relief, to get the pain to stop, to find out the mystery of what was happening inside of a body that has seemed to betray her.

As a friend, it's been hard to watch her struggle and fight and surrender and now lament through something that feels often like a cruel punishment from the God we both love and have followed our entire lives. There are no lofty words to bring comfort. No scripture verses that ease the burning. There is only sitting in the sometimes awkward silence of suffering and holding on tightly t…

Two Christmases ago, I knew that I was entering into a brand new season of my life. I knew full well that things would be changing profoundly and significantly. And I was ready. I welcomed the change.

But I wasn't prepared for the "other" that came along with the change. After the change. The seemingly innocuous ripple turned into a tidal wave that swept me out to sea...foundering, treading water, searching for the shoreline.

The logistics of the change in question were wanted and expected, but the after-effects were not.

What I did not realize then -- sputtering and flailing in that expanse of emotion -- was that I would never go back to that familiar shore. Instead, my friend Jesus navigated me to an island to rest my weary soul, collect my bearings, find a new compass point and just hang out with Him awhile.

I don't regret it -- even in the toughest moments when the loss of The Before feels the keenest. Without that personal and spiritual tsunami, I would not be …

I love the band, U2.
Their music has been a constant companion for three decades.
However, their album Joshua Tree is one of the soundtracks of my life -- moving
to another city...another country...losing friends...finding new ones...finding
love...having babies...growing up....changing...always changing.
The music in this album has an innate rhythm, a measured
step as if the songs and artists themselves are walking/running/journeying
towards a destination not entirely known. As a thirteen-year-old on the brink
of becoming, I had never heard anything like it. From the ringing guitars, to
the driving bass to Bono's passionate pleadings...I was hooked.
It sounds dramatic to say that I felt it in my soul, but I
did.
I did.
Over the years, I have also admired Bono (and the band) for
his passion for truth, justice and grace for all people. It would have been
easy to just be rock stars, collect accolades, tour the world and revel in
their money and success. Yet, they have been constant…

I use my computer keyboard a lot. I have spent many hours typing for work, as a writer, as a homeschool mom and more. (Shout out to my high school Typing teacher for insisting we learn how to type by touch and all those drills.) With all the multiple hours of typing, I have figured out that ergonomic keyboards are my friend, and so is the control shift key.

If you don't know about the magical CONTROL key, it holds unimaginable potential in helping you access computer program shortcuts and commands. If you spend any amount of time on a keyboard, then you definitely want to save this site about keyboard shortcuts for future reference.

As much as I enjoy a good keyboard shortcut, the truth is that there are often no shortcuts in my personal life and development.

There have been many times over the past two years that I have yearned for an easy way out of the turmoil, trouble and struggle that I have walked through. It's no exaggeration for me to say that this period of my life h…

This photo represents some of my favorite things: a table, coffee, good company, and sharing tips and information.

Although this happens fairly frequently in my home, yesterday was the first time I have had an "official" gathering to discuss wellness. And it happened courtesty of wellness cheerleader, Katie Wells, of the popular blogsite, Wellness Mama.

Like Katie, I have been on my own journey to wellness for my family for many years, and have been following her blogsite for the last several.

We have been making gradual changes to limit our usage of chemicals in our cleaning and personal products, our use of plastics and make changes to more natural eating habits.

Moving out of the city to a few acres has allowed us to eat fresh eggs from our own chickens, consume goat milk from our own goats and harvest our own fruit from our orchard.

However, we are not where I would like to be in terms of our eating practices so when I saw that Katie was publishing a cookbook promoting …

Life has shattered me into a million tiny pieces. But God has taken each one and is creating a new work of art out of my life. I'm homeschooling four children on a small farm and living in a 100 year old farmhouse. Lots of animals and mouths to feed. The days are long but sweet. Coffee is my BFF.